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No masks required, but Japanese fans still wear them at WBC

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — The Japanese government relaxed its mask-wearing guidelines on Monday, but the vast majority of fans at the Tokyo Dome watching the World Baseball Classic still wore them.Nippon Professional Baseball also issued new guidelines. Spectators will now be allowed to cheer at the Tokyo Dome without wearing masks, which had been prohibited until Sunday, though some bent the rules.The vast majority of people attending games at the Tokyo Dome on Monday were wearing a mask. But there were more maskless fans than the day before, though it was clear many did not know the guidelines had changed.“Most Japanese are still wearing masks, and I’m doing it because I don’t want to be in the minority,” 19-year-old Kanon Shibuya said, standing inside the stadium.The shift away from masks has been slow in Japan, where much of the public wore them even before the COVID-19 pandemic.The Japanese pro team Fukuoka Softbank Hawks announced over the weekend that fans and employees could use their ow...

Publisher says Japanese writer Kenzaburo Oe, who was awarded literature Nobel for his darkly poetic fiction, died at 88

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Publisher says Japanese writer Kenzaburo Oe, who was awarded literature Nobel for his darkly poetic fiction, died at 88.Source

Meneses homers twice, Mexico clobbers US 11-5 in WBC

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Joey Meneses hit two homers, including a crucial three-run shot in the fourth inning, to lead Mexico to an 11-5 win over the United States in the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Chase Field.Meneses got the sellout crowd of 47,534 — mostly cheering for Mexico — on its feet in the first inning with his first homer, which gave Mexico a 2-0 lead. Those cheers got even louder in the fourth for his encore, which was a blast deep into the left-center seats that brought home Randy Arozarena and Alex Verdugo and made it 7-1.Meneses hit his first homer off starter Nick Martinez, who took the loss, and the second off Brady Singer. Mexico starter Patrick Sandoval gave up one run over three innings, earning the win.The 30-year-old Meneses became an unlikely MLB slugger in 2022 after spending over a decade in the minors and playing overseas. He debuted with the Nationals last season, batting .324 with 13 homers in just 222 at-bats.Mexico kept piling onto the lead in the eighth,...

‘Navalny’ wins Oscar for best documentary

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

“Navalny,” a film about the poisoning and imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, won the Academy Award for best documentary feature in the early hours of Monday morning. Navalny’s two children and his wife Yulia attended the ceremony in Los Angeles, and joined the movie’s director on stage to accept the award.“My husband is in prison just for telling the truth, my husband is in prison just for defending democracy,” Yulia Navalnaya said. “Alexei, I am dreaming about the day you will be free, and our country will be free. Stay strong, my love.”A longtime critic and political opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Navalny, 46, currently languishes in a maximum-security prison about 120 kilometers east of Moscow. He was arrested upon returning to the Russian capital in January 2021, after spending five months in a German hospital to treat a suspected Kremlin-sanctioned nerve agent poisoning. The Russian government...

India enthuses over Oscars for ‘Naatu Naatu,’ elephant doc

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

HYDERABAD, India (AP) — India celebrated its two historic Academy Awards with enthusiasm befitting the high-energy best original song “Naatu Naatu.”The dance anthem from the blockbuster Telugu-language action epic “RRR” is the first from an Indian film to earn a nomination and win and has dazzled audiences everywhere with its energetic tempo and choreography.“The Elephant Whisperers” was named best short documentary at Sunday’s night’s ceremony in a first for an Indian production. The documentary, which is streaming on Netflix, follows the story of a couple in southern India who devote themselves to caring for an orphaned elephant and explores the bond between humans and animals. “Congratulations India” trended on Twitter after “Naatu Naatu” by M.M. Keeravani and Chandrabose trumped the likes of Rihanna and Lady Gaga to win best original song.In the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, where the predominant language is Telugu, fans were elated over the Telugu song’s global...

Governments take extraordinary steps to prevent bank panic

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Governments in the UK and U.S. took extraordinary steps to stop a potential banking crisis after the historic failure of Silicon Valley Bank, even as another major bank was shut down.The UK Treasury and the Bank of England “facilitated the sale″ of Silicon Valley Bank UK to HSBC, ensuring the security of 6.7 billion pounds ($8.1 billion) of deposits.British officials worked throughout the weekend to find a buyer for the UK subsidiary of the California-based bank, whose collapse was the second-largest bank failure in history.“This morning, the government and the Bank of England facilitated a private sale of Silicon Valley Bank UK to HSBC,″ Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt said in a tweet. “Deposits will be protected, with no taxpayer support. I said yesterday that we would look after our tech sector, and we have worked urgently to deliver that promise.”HSBC said it will acquire Silicon Valley Bank UK Ltd for one pound.U.S. regulators also worked all weekend to try to find a...

Oscar Moments: Moms get special praise on feel-good night

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It was chaotic, messy, wild, creative, big-hearted and utterly unique. If it were a bagel, it would most certainly have been the “everything” kind.But “Everything Everywhere All At Once” was a movie, not a bagel, and it ruled Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, making for one feel-good moment after another — and making history, too, on a huge night for Asians and Asian Americans in Hollywood.And as for The Slap? Well, this Oscar night felt more like a big hug, its heartwarming speeches a potent antidote to the uneasy memory of last year’s Will Smith saga. They kept coming: There was Ke Huy Quan, bounding up the stairs to accept the supporting actor troph y, his teary joy infectious as he referred to his remarkable life story. From the same film there was Jamie Lee Curtis, speaking eloquently about acting as a collaborative endeavor, and the directing duo the Daniels, thanking public school teachers and the family members who nurtured their creativity.Then there was lea...

Girl, 3, kills sister in accidental shooting at Texas home

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — A 3-year-old girl found a loaded gun in a Texas home and accidentally shot her sister, killing the 4-year-old on Sunday, police said.Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said the girls were in the bedroom of an apartment on Bammel North Houston Road in Houston, where they lived with their parents, around 8 p.m.Five adults, who were all family members or family friends, were in other parts of the apartment and the girls unintentionally were left unsupervised, Gonzalez said.“The 3-year-old gained access to a loaded, semi-automatic pistol. Family members heard a single gunshot. They ran into the room and found the small toddler, 4-years-old, unresponsive,” Gonzalez said.The girl was pronounced dead at the scene after police responded to a 911 call by the family, Gonzalez told journalists outside the home.“It just seems like another tragic story of, again, a child gaining access to a firearm and hurting someone else and this time there was a fatal shot,” Gonzalez said.The Ha...

In The News for March 13 : Canadians take home Academy Award glory

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of March 13 …What we are watching in Canada …The 95th Academy Awards saw a number of Canadians recognized for their work in Hollywood.“Women Talking” won for best adapted screenplay, giving Toronto filmmaker Sarah Polley her first Oscar win, having been previously nominated in the same category for the 2007 relationship drama “Away from Her.”The film adapted from Manitoba author Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel of the same name was also up for best picture, but lost to the interdimensional drama “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”In the performance categories, Canadian-American Brendan Fraser nabbed the award for best actor for his role in “The Whale,” portraying an obese shut-in professor looking to connect with his estranged daughter.Montreal-born makeup artist Adrien ...

Flights at several German airports disrupted by 1-day strike

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 10:48:00 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Flights at several German airports were severely disrupted on Monday by the latest in a string of one-day strikes related to various pay disputes.The ver.di union called workers out on “warning strikes” at Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover and Bremen airports. Some 200 departures were canceled in Berlin, and about a third of the planned 200 arrivals were expected to be canceled, German news agency dpa reported. Hamburg airport said that all 123 planned departures during the strike were canceled and at least 50 of the 121 planned arrivals.The walkouts by airport staff come amid difficult pay talks for employees of Germany’s federal and municipal governments. Unions are seeking a 10.5% pay raise, while employers so far have offered an increase totaling 5% in two stages and one-time payments of 2,500 euros ($2,630) per employee — which unions have rejected as insufficient. The next round of talks is due to start March 27.There are also negotiations ongoing nationwide over air saf...